The Downtown Kingston Business Improvement Area (DBIA) wanted a clear, actionable path to improve their digital presence and to better connect with residents, visitors, and local businesses. Working in partnership with students at St. Lawrence College, we took on a joint UX and SEO audit of the DBIA’s website and online touchpoints. This project blended classroom learning with a live client engagement, offering both students and the BIA a chance to apply insights in real time.
Design Goals
Improve Discoverability: Strengthen keyword use and search visibility.
Enhance Usability: Simplify navigation and reduce friction in user journeys.
Boost Accessibility: Add alt text, improve headings, and align with WCAG.
Guide Content Strategy: Identify quick wins and long-term SEO opportunities.
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Research Framework
To set the foundation, I designed a research framework that combined SEO best practices with user experience evaluation. Students mapped user journeys to understand how residents, visitors, and businesses moved through the site, while also conducting card sorting exercises to test the clarity of the site’s navigation. In parallel, we ran a technical SEO audit looking at metadata, title tags, search visibility, and performance metrics, alongside accessibility checks to ensure compliance with WCAG standards.
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Findings
Our analysis revealed both strengths and gaps. The site already had a strong local identity and a responsive design, but several issues limited its search performance and usability. Overloaded navigation created friction for first-time visitors, while missing meta descriptions and keyword-poor headings undermined visibility. More than 47 images lacked alt text, which impacted both accessibility and SEO. Performance testing also showed that large image files slowed load times, especially on mobile devices
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Recommendations
We translated findings into a strategic roadmap that balanced immediate fixes with long-term opportunities. Quick wins included rewriting title tags and meta descriptions, adding alt text to images, and restructuring menus into broader, user-friendly categories. Medium-term goals focused on internal linking, accessibility audits, and creating structured breadcrumbs for improved navigation. Longer-term strategies included content development such as seasonal guides, interactive maps, and local business spotlights, to improve backlink potential and strengthen search visibility.
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Implementation Approach
My role was to guide the process end-to-end: facilitating workshops, co-analyzing data with students, and ensuring recommendations were both practical and brand-aligned. We framed deliverables in a way that made them easy for the BIA to implement, prioritizing fixes by effort versus impact. The recommendations weren't just technical, they also reinforced the DBIA’s brand promise of being “A True Original,” ensuring the digital experience reflected the vibrancy of downtown Kingston.
Outcomes
The result was booth a report and a roadmap for a more intuitive, accessible, and search-friendly presence. By combining SEO optimization with UX improvements, we gave the DBIA both the quick fixes they needed to see immediate gains and the long-term strategies required to sustain growth. The process also empowered students, giving them a hands-on role in a real-world project that blended design thinking with search strategy.